USATF chief to Kathy Jager: We did all we could

By Ken Stone

Kathy Jager’s gold medals from Gateshead still hang in the family room of her home in Glendale, Ariz. But her hopes for early reinstatement to competition hang by less than a thread.

Dashing her dreams of racing this summer, USATF will not allow the W55 world 100 and 200 champion to compete in the United States until January 2001 at the earliest.

Jager, 56, was suspended for two years from international competition after testing positive for the IAAF-banned steroid methyltestosterone at the 1999 World Veterans Athletics Championships, where she won six medals.

The drug was part of her hormone replacement therapy for menopause symptoms called Estratest -– which Jager vehemently denies provided any athletic advantage in its tiny 1.5-milligram-per-day quantities.

She said she learned June 6, 2000, through an e-mail to her lawyer that USATF has attached several conditions to her bid to compete domestically before the IAAF ban ends.

In a conference call June 4, 2000, the Executive Committee of USATF reviewed and approved the recommendations of its Doping Reinstatement Board. But USATF and Jager differ on what those recommendations entailed.

"I thought it was going to be a cut-and-dried thing," the mother of two said from her home near Phoenix. "I was tremendously disappointed" in the USATF action.

She had thought USATF was going to let her compete domestically –- even in time for the Eugene masters nationals -– as long as she continued to submit to drug tests to make sure she no longer was taking the synthetic testosterone.

The first test was conducted just before Easter. The last will likely be in December.
But Craig Masback, chief executive officer of USATF, said:

"No promises were ever made to Kathy Jager. As with any other elite athlete who has admitted to taking a prohibited substance and accepted the consequences, Kathy Jager has been, is, and will be required to follow the appropriate rules and regulations with respect to the commission of a doping offense."

Masback said those conditions include four "reinstatement drug tests" and IAAF approval of her request for a medical exemption, which would allow her to resume taking Estratest again. But USATF's insistence that she first secure an IAAF medical exemption came out of the blue, Jager says, and was never mentioned in earlier dealings with USATF.

In the meantime, Jager continues to shun her doctor-prescribed hormone therapy and put up with less-effective medication.

Until a June 13 note from Masback on the subject, however, Jager held out hope that she could accept an invitation to compete in a women’s 100-meter exhibition race in the first weekend of the U.S. Olympic Trials in Sacramento.

Jager contends that the race is merely "a fun promotion" of masters track and doesn’t qualify as an official Trials event, since Jager hasn’t met the Olympic Trials qualifying standards in the women’s sprints.

She asks: "Do I have to get permission (from USATF) for everything?"

But Masback wrote: "Ms. Jager is unable to participate in any USATF or IAAF-sanctioned competition, including so-called ‘exhibition’ events. Ms. Jager admitted her guilt for a doping offense and accepted the penalty."

In his e-mail message June 13, Masback further said: "While USATF is sympathetic to the plight of all track and field athletes with special medical needs, we are also mindful that participation in our sport, particularly at the international level, is a voluntary choice.

"Those who choose to participate also agree to abide by its rules, or work with the system to change them. Ms. Jager had and has both options available to her."

Moreover, he said, "It appears that USATF's helpfulness to Ms. Jager has created heightened ‘expectations’ among her supporters. While this is understandable, it is beyond USATF's control. We have argued, and will continue to argue, vigorously on her behalf with the IAAF."

In fact, Masback promised that the Executive Committee will "devote substantial time at its next meeting (in July) to identifying these issues and recommending appropriate action, where required.
"(USATF Masters Chairman) Ken Weinbel . . . will lead these efforts, but there is a broad consensus that this is an important matter for the entire organization."

In any case, Jager is relieved to be able to be open about her plight, instead of being the mystery "drug positive" from Gateshead.

"It helps to talk about it," she said. "I’m not ashamed or embarrassed about it –- because I’ve done nothing wrong." She’s especially grateful to those sentiments of support she’s received via the Internet and elsewhere since the story broke May 11.

But she can’t shake the feeling of being unjustly convicted –- suddenly "divorced" from her sport without warning.

"It’s not about going (to meets) and setting records," Jager said. "It’s about the people. I’m not connected with (track). I miss the camaraderie."

Jager aims to challenge the IAAF’s drug rules for masters because "you can’t just ban (medications) from everybody’s use. . . . It could be any of us trapped in this nightmare."

In the meantime, Jager puts up with the blazing sun of media scrutiny in scorching Arizona -– and looks ahead to her eventual return to competition.

"I was out vaulting today," she said June 7. "I’m doing my turn (at the top of the jump). I’m not going to let anything keep me discouraged."